Here is this week’s news…
Creative Industries
Ben Bradshaw’s conference speech.
Ben Bradshaw made his speech to the Labour conference HERE. It’s pretty silly and we can’t be bothered to deconstruct it. As an example of a Labour wordsmith at his best, consider, if you will, a quote from the end of the speech: ‘Labour’s mission is to ensure the best for all. That’s what Labour’s done. That’s what we’re doing and that’s what we’ll continue to do. The Tories never have; they never would. We must ensure they never will.’ So Labour’s mission is to ensure the Conservatives never deliver the best for all. Weird. Interestingly, all the press were briefed that it was a shot across the bows of the BBC, see for example HERE. Talking of which…
BBC
The BBC has launched its review of BBC TV services, including BBC One, Two, Four and the Red Button, HERE.
Meanwhile, the Corporation has been criticised by three of its most loyal servants, former chairman of the governors, Sir Christopher Bland; veteran newsreader Peter Sissons and former Newsnight presenter and head of the BBC World Service, Sir John Tusa. Bland, now chairman of the RSC said: ‘they have got to… cut their coat according to other people’s cloth, not according to their own… The BBC…. needs to begin to recognise that the world has changed pretty radically in the last 24 months’ Sissons said: ‘The BBC needs management of international calibre and instead they have got a gang of people who are not up to the job. The political answer is to break it up and sell off big chunks so it can be managed by other people’ More HERE.
And Ben Bradshaw has accused Michael Lyons, chairman of the BBC Trust, of cosying up to us because he thinks we are going to win the next election HERE.
ITV
ITV has terminated its discussions with Tony Ball to become its new chief executive. They have begun their search again and say: ‘The first task of the new Chairman will be to appoint a new Chief Executive. Michael Grade has agreed to continue to lead the Company as Executive Chairman until the new non-Executive Chairman is appointed and in post.’ More HERE.
Digital Britain
The deadline for submissions to the Government’s Digital Britain consultation on funding options for national, regional and local news has passed, with the BBC continuing to oppose the Government’s top-slicing solution, suggesting instead: ‘harnessing the value of the broadcast spectrum freed up in 2014 for the benefit of commercial operators’ and reiterating its proposals to share know how and facilities with other media outlets. More HERE, and all non confidential submissions to the consultation published HERE. We have our own proposals to create sustainable local TV companies, requiring no public funding whatsoever, HERE
Consultation on file sharing ended this week as well. BT and the Carphone Warehouse oppose the Government’s plans to disconnect persistent illegal file downloaders. Charles Dunstone of the Carphone Warehouse said: ‘What is being proposed is wrong in principle and it won’t work in practice. The unintended consequence of Mandelson’s plan will be to encourage more wi-fi and PC hijacking and expose more innocent people to being penalised wrongfully.’ More HERE.
There’s detail on the outcome of last week’s Featured Artist Coalition meeting HERE. The statement said that the meeting ‘voted overwhelmingly to support a three-strike sanction on those who persistently download illegal files, sanctions to consist of a warning letter, a stronger warning letter and a final sanction of the restriction of the infringer’s bandwidth to a level which would render file-sharing of media files impractical while leaving basic email and web access functional’ More and a full list of signatories’ HERE It sounds like the music industry is moving towards some agreement with itself, which can only be a good thing.
Scottish Broadcasting
The Scottish Culture Minister Michael Russell has outlined a ‘mixed system’ which would mean Scottish viewers paying a higher licence fee of £145, and take advertising to pay for a Scottish Broadcasting Corporation. It would have a budget of £300 million, based on licence fee cash raised in Scotland, but it would have to raise extra money if it were to rival the BBC which has a £4.6billion income. Or Scotland could just stay part of the Union. More HERE.
Video Games
Yet more reason to love the sector: TNS technology research reveals that 40 per cent of people over 50 play games, and 40 per cent of them say they play games more than they read magazines. Research by Deutsche Bank shows the games industry will grow from 30 billion euros to 52 billion Euros by 2012. More HERE As clever Rory Sutherland wrote in last week’s Spectator, ‘In fact there are several other technological areas where Britain enjoys similar supremacy, but you wouldn’t know it from the newspapers…the game Grand Theft Auto a more successful entertainment property than any Hollywood film, is almost entirely a Scottish creation. A little more celebration of this wouldn’t hurt.’
Creative Funding
The first public venture capital fund for the creative industries, the Creative Advantage Fund has just announced a new round of investment in West Midlands small and medium enterprises HERE. They use risk capital to foster creative companies, recycling the public investment to help creative companies overcome the “equity gap”, more HERE.
Advertising
The internet has overtaken television to become the UK’s largest advertising medium, according to a report by PwC for the Internet Advertising Bureau. The UK is the first large media market to see such a shift. Spending on online advertising grew 4.6 per cent in the first half of 2009 compared with the same period last year to reach £1.75bn, driven largely by search engine advertising. By contrast, overall advertising spending fell 16.6 per cent. As a result, Online’s share of the total grew from 18.7 per cent in the first half of last year to 23.5 per cent, ahead of TV’s 21.9 per cent. Online overtook news-paper advertising sales income in 2006. More HERE.
Publishing
French publisher La Martiniere has become the first publisher worldwide to sue Google in court, demanding 15 million Euros in damages for copyrighted books digitised by the search engine without permission, HERE. With more discussion of what it all means, for writers and creative copyright in general, HERE.
The Lost Symbol has sold nearly a third of its 6.5m worldwide English language print run in its first week, according to figures from Nielsen BookScan. Total English language sales, excluding Canada, have reached 1.9m since the latest Dan Brown novel was released more HERE.
There’s a round up on the Booker Prize shortlist ahead of next week’s announcement, HERE.
Architecture
Ed spoke at the Architect’s Journal 100 breakfast this week, reiterating our support for CABE, and our intention to abolish the ARB, more HERE.
MOBOs
The MOBOs were held in Scotland for the first time ever last night, congratulations to all winners in particular JLS and N-Dubz who won two awards each, more HERE.
Design
This year’s London Design Festival was the best yet reflecting the widest possible range of design disciplines and working with key venues and spaces including Trafalgar Square, Southbank Centre, the V&A and Somerset House. More HERE.
Conservatives Technology Forum
If you are finding our Creative Industries and Arts Network just too much fun, you might like to start to attending the Conservative Technology Forum, full details on their jazzy website, HERE.
Arts and Heritage
Libraries
Big news: Labour in the Wirral have u-turned on their plans to close 11 libraries. Jeremy and Ed went up to campaign against the closures earlier this year, and we are delighted by the news. More HERE.
UK Libraries are uniting in a huge lending network which will enables book lovers to borrow items from a public library regardless of where they live. More than 4,000 libraries in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and in the Society of Chief Librarians initiative. HERE and HERE
Ed proposed similar plans in March of this year, so we welcome this innovation from the sector itself. On a similar note, we hear that the APPG Libraries report will be published tonight and might bear an uncanny resemblance to our proposals.
Our Lottery Plans will Benefit Arts and Heritage
We’ve banged on for ages about how our plans to reduce Lottery bureaucracy and increase the share of the Lottery pot for arts and heritage will lead to significant additional money for the arts and heritage if we win the election. A hilarious article in The Observer has given our plans some much needed publicity. HERE Why hilarious? Because they argue that by giving more money to heritage we will cut “avant garde” arts, ignoring the fact that (a) we will be giving more money to the arts (b) there’s something called the arms length principle and (c) we like avant garde art. The Times covers the issue much better and more accurately HERE.
Dance
A window on dance, the Arts Council’s dance mapping project has been published. Written by consultants Susanne Burns and Sue Harrison the report tells us that Dance RFOs currently constitute 10.78% of overall ACE spend, down from 12.44% in 1997/98, that ACE funding makes up 32% of the total income of dance agencies, venues and festivals and that total ACE and local authority investment in dance buildings from 2004-08 totals £297million. Download the full-report and executive summary HERE.
Sustain
Arts Council England are closing Sustain, their programme to help arts organisations continue to maintain artistic excellence during the recession, to new applications on 9th October 2009. ACE will then undertake ‘a swift and thorough review of Sustain before deciding if further action is needed to support artistic excellence through the recession and what form it might take.’ More HERE.
Battle of Ideas
The programme for the Battle of Ideas 2009, organised by the Royal College of Art, is available HERE. Ed is on the Can the arts save the economy panel on Sunday 1st November, HERE.
Interesting pieces from across the pond
Do arts service organisations need to be consolidated? HERE This piece looks at the USA, although we think the arts sector could learn much from the strength, success and influence of the Youth Sports Trust and UK Sport.
Michelle Obama tells an international audience why the arts matter at the G20 in Pittsburgh HERE
And finally
David Cameron has said that he wants to be painted by Tracey Emin in this week’s Spectator HERE.
Where we’ve been and who we’ve seen
The BFI Archive, Architects Journal Top 100 breakfast, Ofcom, Pinewood exhibition at The British Movieum, The Communications Store, Anish Kapoor at the Royal Academy, a day in Brussels with PPL meeting top Euro honchos, the Cheltenham Festival.
Conference Next Week
We’re not sure how many of our 3,000 subscribers will be going to conference, but if you are this is what we are doing:
Monday 5th October
Ed: ACE / PAN event at the Lowry, the All Party Writers Group, People’s History Museum / Heritage Lottery Fund, Policy Exchange: Digital Britain, Conservative Arts and Creative Industries network event.
Jeremy: BBC World Service, Conservative Arts and Creative Industries Event.
Tuesday 6th October
Ed: CPS / broadcasting policy
Jeremy: Reform / BBC, NESTA.
Wednesday 7th October
Ed: Society of Chief Librarians Libraries Inspire Breakfast, Bell Pottinger lunch, North West Tourist Board Drinks
Jeremy: Speech to Conference, UK Music.
Ed Vaizey
Shadow Arts Minister
Jeremy Hunt
Shadow Culture Secretary
